UK Screenshots for Pre BR Blue. High resolution warning.

evilcrow said:

Good to see you back borderreiver, beginning to wonder...................
Cheers, evilcrow

Click to expand...

borderreiver said:

After the Stockton & Darlington Railway was absorbed by the North Eastern Railway it retained a great deal of autonomy for a decade, eventually becoming the Central Division. The Central Division was abolished in the early years of the 20th century but some artifacts of the organisation persisted for decades. One of them was that the South Durham District Engineer's baliwack extended right up in to NW Durham at the eastern end of Howneshill Viaduct near Consett. This was because the Stockton & Darlington had taken over the western portion of the former Stanhope & Tyne which the Consett Iron Company had purchased in order to retain a rail outlet upon the S&T's bankruptcy. The Stockton & Darlington had subsequently built a link between Crook in SW Durham via Tow Law to the former Stanhope & Tyne metals in order to gain an outlet to the south for Consett's output. The Stockton & Darlington built Hownesgill viaduct, to bypass the double incline operating across the Hownes Gill gorge.

The "Shildon Brake Van" at the back of the train would have had dumb buffers when originally built, just as the chaldron wagons did. I can imagine how lively the ride would be for the poor guard assigned to that van. The NER built coal wagons right in to the first decade of the 20th century which had extended timber baulks to accommodate buffering up to chaldrons, which were not completely eliminated from NER metals until around 1910. Even after that date, some colliery owners still retained them for use within their colliery lines or on private waggonways.

Click to expand...

borderreiver said:

The Queen Alexandra bridge certainly is up there for business decisions which did not pay off, though imagine just how much worse traffic in Sunderland would have been with only one road crossing.

However, it escapes me as to how the NER ever expected to make money from it. The Hylton, Southwick and Monkwearmouth branch's western access was from down traffic taking Southwick Junction to the east on the former Stanhope & Tyne line between Washington and Boldon Colliery, later the stamping ground of the Tyne Dock ore trains, which would suggest that the coal traffic bound for the Alexandra bridge originated north of the River Wear but not from Tyneside. To me that points to lines and collieries in NW Durham which fed in to Stella Yard and South Pelaw Junction, thence to Washington and on to the HS&W branch.

it made no sense for traffic off the down Leamside line from south of the Victoria viaduct over the Wear as the Pallion line on the Wear's south bank already served that traffic bound for the staithes and docks.

Traffic from NW Durham heading to Dunston staithes on the Tyne, which had only recently been accomodated by the NER following a threat from colliery owners to build their own line to the Tyne would not have countenaced diverting it to the Wear only a couple of years after that victory. Tyne Dock was the recipient of a considerable tonnage of coal for its staithes. Colliery owners wanting a shorter route to staithes drove the development of Dunston staithes and a reduction in mileage costs, even though the NER had not increased their charges for more than a decade. Perhaps there was a residual fear that Tyne Dock's capacity would be reached, even with traffic going to Dunston unless some could be diverted to the Wear without a reversal en-route. That gamble did not pay off since WWI caused the loss of coal export traffic to Northern Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic. Those markets never really recovered post-WWI and domestic coastal shipping was accomodated within the limits of the pre-Alexandra infrastructure.

People often are oblivious to the fact that railway closures did happen long before Beeching was in post.

Click to expand...